


Anachronism

by TheMomeRath



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, M/M, Multiverse, Spies & Secret Agents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-25
Updated: 2014-06-24
Packaged: 2018-02-06 03:28:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1842661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMomeRath/pseuds/TheMomeRath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Hayden Haddock is kidnapped by men with malicious intent, he finds himself stuck with a strange man who seems to know far too much about him. Trapped in a situation he hadn't imagined ever having to deal with, he finds himself caught up on a journey to escape the kidnappers, and along the way learns about things he hadn't imagined were even possible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lost

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a Secret Agent/Spy prompt given by the Hijack Week HQ. 
> 
> Readers should be aware that if they are made nervous by needles (the hospital kind), they do make a couple appearances.

A hand clamped over Hayden’s face, muffling his pleading screams for help. Thick calluses on the palms of grimy hands scratched at his neck while the texture of a rag clamped over of his mouth invaded his senses. He tried to gasp for air, but instead found himself growing dizzy, and as his vision faded to black, the rough voices around him dissolved into menacing whispers.

The darkness behind his eyelids gave way to a glaring light, and when he finally came to, the boy found himself squinting at a glowing fire. It took some time for his eyes to focus on the black silhouette that stood in front of the fire. When the figure turned and saw him stirring, it grunted and squatted down in front of his flattened form. “Glad to see you awake. Have any good dreams?”

The boy’s eyes grew wide and he sat up quickly, scooting across the dusty floor to cower against the wall. Suddenly overcome by dizziness from the rush of effort, he dropped his head between his knees, clutching some kind of blanket between his shaking hands. The silhouette shook quietly, and it took a second for the boy to realize he was hearing the sounds of laughter coming from the figure.

"I- Where am I?" Cursing himself for not being able to speak any more clearly, Hayden spoke again. "Why did you take me here?"

"Take you?" The figure scoffed and stood, reaching for the ceiling. "Why would I want to do that?" The boy cringed at the sudden movement and tried to protect himself from whatever the man was reaching for when something flashed in his tired eyes. He blinked and grimaced, then tried to open his eyes to the harsh light in the room. The man looked down at him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I just figured you'd prefer the dark."

The man turned around, and the boy tried to take in every detail about him. His thin arms and legs supported a frame over which a black jacket hung. Brown hair- maybe a shade darker than his own- hung just below the man's jawline and moved as he poked at the fire.

Hayden began to look around the room and realized it was not nearly as grimy as he had imagined it would be when he woke. "Why did you kidnap me?" he asked again, and his eyes followed the seam of the tan wall and brownish floor to the corner and up to a ceiling from which a propane lantern dangled.

The man had flinched at his question and turned to stare at the younger boy. "I didn't kidnap you. I rescued you," he growled, one green eye and one blue eye staring directly at the younger's face.

Surprised, the boy sat up straighter against the wall. "If you call knocking me unconscious rescuing me, then maybe you did, but that's not quite what I'd call it." He was glad to feel his senses returning to him, and as he spoke, he brushed his fingers against his palm, making sure his hands still worked.

While Hayden tested his strength, the man grunted. "I wasn't the one who knocked you out."

The boy rolled his eyes. "Great. That really helps my opinion of you a whole lot." He pressed his hands against the floor and pushed gently, measuring his strength. "So you weren't the one with the rag. Where'd he go off to? Or do kidnappers like you not keep in touch?"

The man turned again and frowned. "I told you, I didn't kidnap you."

"That's fine, but-" the boy grunted and he pushed himself to his feet- "it still doesn't really make me want to trust you." Suddenly overcome with dizziness, he felt himself falling down again, but a pair of rough hands caught him before his legs collapsed.

The man kept his hands under the bound armpits, keeping him from falling as his head swirled. "Try not to stand up so fast like that. You're probably still feeling a few effects from the drugs they used on you." He steadied Hayden's body and finally let his hands away from him, but as the boy began to slide down the wall again, he grunted and lifted him over to a futon on the other side of the room.

Blinking as the dizziness subsided, Hayden clutched the wool blanket over his legs. "Whatever you all used, it's definitely potent stuff." He could tell the man was about to protest, but he interrupted quickly. "How long have I been unconscious?"

The man shuffled his feet, still poking at something in the fire. "About two and a half days," he finally admitted. "I only got to you a few hours ago. They were using a tranquilizer to keep you under, but I... Stopped them from dosing you." He lifted something to his face and sniffed, nodding quickly in approval. "Do you think you can stomach any food?"

The boy realized that what the man was holding was a bowl, hesitated, then nodded. When handed the metal bowl, he lifted it to his face and inhaled the aroma of something distinctly meaty. He then stretched his arms out in front of him and shook his head. "Sorry, I don't eat meat."

The man bemusedly raised one eyebrow. "Well, it's that or nothing. Pick it out if you want, but I'm not making you anything else."

Opening his mouth, Hayden started to protest, but almost in response, his stomach grumbled loudly. "I... I guess I can pick it out." He brought the bowl closer to his face again and sniffed. "I don't usually eat anything that's had meat touching it," he said with a frown.

"Get used to it. Life isn't kind to picky eaters." The man shoved another bowl at him, this one with two spoons in it. "Put the pieces you don't want in here and I'll eat them."

The boy set the bowl without stew in it between his knees and began chasing the pieces of meat with his spoon and dropping them in the other bowl. When he was satisfied, he handed the bowl of meaty chunks back to the man and lifted a spoonful of his own stew to his mouth. He then paused, noticing the pair of eyes watching him. "Did you do something to this?"

The man sighed. "Of course not. Here." He picked up one of the pieces of meat from the other bowl between his fingers and popped it into his mouth and chewed. "Satisfied?"

Hayden nodded and lifted his spoon to his mouth, taking in the warm mixture. He closed his eyes and lifted his face toward the ceiling, rejoicing at the taste on his tongue, then swallowed before lifting the bowl to his lips and slurping mouthfuls of the thin stew. The man watched with an amused expression for a couple of seconds before scooping some stew into his own bowl. He came to sit down beside the boy on the orange couch, but noticed the younger's shoulders tense up defensively as he neared. "Relax. I already gave you food. It's not like someone who wanted to hurt you would do that." He moved slowly to the futon and lowered himself until he was seated on the far edge. The boy's green eyes followed him cautiously, but after a few seconds, he returned to slurping the brown stew.

After drinking about half of the broth, he lowered the bowl. “This tastes good.”

“It should,” the man responded between big spoonfuls. “I try not to make things that taste bad.”

Hayden flushed and returned to eating, focusing his eyes on the reddish rocky floor. Chewing cautiously on the chunks of potato and carrot that mingled with the broth, he tried to recall anything from the last few days.

The man watched him silently, taking in the boy’s appearance. _He looks so young._  Eyes following the curve of the boy’s neck, he lingered on the few needlepoints where the captors had continued to dose him to keep him from moving around and making noise. Involuntarily, his hand went up to the back of his own neck and he rubbed gently.

“If you didn’t kidnap me, why aren’t you bringing me back?”

The sudden interjection jolted the man out of his thoughts. He dropped his hand to his side. “What?”

“You said you didn’t kidnap me.” Hayden turned his face so he could meet the older’s eyes. “If you’re telling the truth, which I still don’t quite believe, why haven’t you brought me back home?”

The man blinked. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“What, you don’t know what home is? Don't you have one?”

“Of course I did. But I can’t bring you back.”

“Oh, that’s definitely helping me trust you.” The boy rolled his eyes. “Look, you’re doing a bad job of faking this, so you’d better tell me the truth or-”

“You want the truth? Fine.” The man stood up violently and crossed his arms, feet clomping across the room. His interjection left the boy shocked and silent.

Turning once he reached the other side, he took a deep breath. Then, he shut his eyes and started again. “Your name is Hayden Haddock. You’re fifteen years old. You were on your way home when you were ambushed by four men who drugged you and carried you away.

“For two days you were kept under while they debated where to take you. They couldn’t decide whether you needed to be killed or have your memory wiped, but before they could take action, I rescued you.” Hayden opened his mouth in surprise, but the man continued spouting information. “Your family is dead, and you don’t have a home anymore.”

He opened his eyes and glanced up. “There’s the truth.”

Hayden opened and closed his mouth a few times. “No, that’s not true.” He pressed his palms to his eyes and shook his head. “It can’t be.” He coughed, then felt his jaw tighten as his throat started to burn. “I- I need to vomit-” he stood slowly, vision blurring, and leaned over as soon as he saw some kind of bucket in his narrow vision. The stew he had just managed to fill his aching stomach up with came gushing back out, and he dropped to his hands and knees over the bowl and continued to choke on it all as it spewed violently from his mouth.

The man watched sympathetically and laid a hand on Hayden’s back. “I’m sorry for telling you everything at once. It’s probably a little overwhelming.”

Hayden choked and spat, his mouth burning from the stomach acid. “A little?” He coughed weakly. “You just told me my whole family is dead.” Flopping back onto the futon, he shut his eyes to blink away his tears- half from the pain of vomiting the entirety of his stomach’s contents and half from the news he had just been delivered.

He opened one eye. “You aren’t just telling me that, are you? I’m not gonna go back home and see everyone I love waiting for me suddenly?”

The man shook his head. “Sorry. I wish I was.”

Hayden groaned, a pained expression crossing his face. “So now what? Why do you have me? Are you just going to keep me locked up so whoever those guys are can’t find me?”

The man nodded with a frown on his face. “I’m afraid you’re definitely going to be stuck with me for a while.”

~~~

The room wasn’t so bad once Hayden realized he was stuck there. He got used to doing occasional cleaning, and even cooked sometimes. The man gave up his spot on the futon for the younger boy to sleep, which Hayden rejected at first, but there was something in how the man’s one blue eye flickered that made him understand that he wasn’t supposed to refuse.

Of course, as soon as he found himself accepting his situation, everything changed.

“We need to move,” the man said, throwing the few belongings he had into a duffel bag that he pulled from one of the shelves in the back of the room.

Hayden sat up in shock when he saw the man come toward him with a knife just about as long as his hand, but when he stabbed the futon instead he grew more confused than afraid. “What are you doing?” The man reached into the mattress and pulled out a metal box, and Hayden quickly recalled adjusting his body so whatever the hard spot was in the mattress- he had assumed it was just a bare spot, or a piece of the frame- didn’t dig into his back. “What _is_  that?”

“No time to explain,” the man snapped as he fumbled with the front of the box. The lid popped open and Hayden tried to peek inside, but the thick frame of his companion blocked his view. “Hold still.”

As rough hands grabbed the back of his skull, terror filled Hayden’s body. While the man’s arm held his head firmly in place, two fingers pried his eyelid open. He tried to escape the deadlock grip, but he found his legs unwilling to move and his arms paralyzed at his sides while the man’s hand moved around his open, horror-struck eye.

In ten seconds, though, it was over. Hayden blinked, his eyes dry, and he squinted, trying to make out what had happened. In the air in front of him, tiny blue dots and lines whirred to life, seemingly floating just a few feet in front of his face. “What did you just do to me?” he asked, raising a hand to his cheekbone. “Am I drugged?”

“No. I’m installing computer hardware into your body. It should make a few things easier to explain,” the man replied, replacing a flat circular vial to its position in the padded box. “Sorry I didn’t warn you. It’s better to not think about it.” He reached again for Hayden, but hesitated, then handed him the leather handle from his duffel bag. “This part might hurt a little. Bite down on this.”

“What do you mean, it might hurt?” Hayden’s felt the leather strap slip between his teeth and his eyes widened and they eyes flicked to a needle in the man’s hand. He tried to object, but he found his head pressed against the futon and felt fingers prodding at the base of his neck.

“Bite down,” the man repeated before Hayden felt the sharp sting of something that felt like it was running through his entire body. Despite chewing on the leather strap, he still managed to let out a horrified yell as the sensation continued.

As soon as the pain disappeared, the needle gone, the back of his eyelids danced with the blue lights from before, but they rearranged themselves into a glowing grid instead of floating and bouncing aimlessly as they did before. Words flashed up in the grid right above a bar that slowly filled, displaying a percentage directly to its left.

_Guardians Enterprise_. Those were the largest words in his field of vision, and directly underneath, _Loading_  blinked. As soon as the bar filled completely and the percentage disappeared, the lights disappeared except for a border. _Welcome,_  it said, and Hayden was shocked to hear the sound of a calm voice inside his head.

“What… what did you just do?”

“It’s the last step of the installation process. I’ll explain how to use it later. For now, pack anything you have in this bag.” A second duffel landed in Hayden’s lap, and he looked down at it. A blue circle appeared around the tag on the front, displaying a mini menu with the choice _Do you want to search for this item?_  next to it.

Hayden glared at the man who was across the room still stuffing things into his own bag. “This is really distracting.”

The man shrugged his comment off. "Well, you're stuck with it now. If you uninstall it, you'll die."

Raising an eyebrow questioningly, it took a couple seconds for Hayden to realize he wasn't joking. "Well, that's comforting."

“I’ll teach you to use it later,” he replied brusquely, turning to stare at the unmoving boy. “Why aren’t you packing?”

“I don’t _have_  anything,” he shot back, and realization hit the man’s face.

“Ah.” The awkwardness in the room was practically physical, and the pair just stared at each other for a couple of seconds. “Well… Um… We need to get going then. We should find you some extra clothes somehow…” Rummaging through his bag, the man pulled out a brown vest. “This might be a little big, but it’ll have to do for now, since you don’t have a jacket or anything…”

Hayden stuck his arms through the holes in the vest and stood. It dropped slightly below his hips, but it was thick and warm. He stuck his hands in two of the pockets on the front. “...Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” came the quick response. “Now, we need to move quickly. Someone’s discovered our location, and I can’t get a clear reading on who exactly it is.”

Hayden would have asked what was going on, but he knew he wouldn’t get a clear answer, so he simply followed the man up a ladder into the bright sunlight.

~~~

Hijacking a car should have been harder.

That’s what he told himself. But those little blue lights floating in front of his face made the process just a bit easier, and he almost laughed when he looked at the empty ignition and a menu flashed up with the words _It looks like you’re stuck without keys. Would you like help bypassing this obstacle?_

Within a few minutes, he had maneuvered the vehicle away from the sales lot and escaped undetected, using the presumably counterfeit license plates from his companion’s bag to cover up the showy advertisements that had been there.

The man had originally suggested that they “borrow” a less conspicuous vehicle from a parking lot somewhere, but was quickly persuaded otherwise by Hayden’s reasoning that if they stole one from a used car lot, nobody would be directly affected.

Hayden found himself somewhat exhilarated from the rush of stealing the car. Even though he knew it was illegal- probably because he knew it was illegal, actually- there was something exciting about it.

When they were on the road, the man noticed Hayden shaking and put his hand on the wheel gently. “You should pull over so I can drive.”

“Why? This is the first time I’ve driven!”

“I know.” He grimaced when the boy swerved to avoid a squirrel that jumped in front of the car. “That’s why it’s a good idea to let me drive for now.”

Reluctantly, Hayden slowed the car to a halt on the side of the road and stepped over the center console while the man walked around the front to take the drivers’ seat. He drummed his fingers on the armrest and scanned the horizon. When the man climbed in the front seat, Hayden turned to him abruptly. “Was there anything in that injection you gave me?”

"The hardware for the operating system you have installed. It should be done connecting to your brain by now if you can control it." Hesitating, the man gripped the wheel just a bit tighter. “And a light dose of adrenaline to keep you from falling asleep afterward.” Glancing sideways, he frowned. “Or it should have been light. I might have given you too much.”

“So you did drug me.”

“Adrenaline isn’t really a drug as much as it is a… performance enhancer. It’s naturally occurring.” The car rolled forward and started to pick up speed. “Look, I’m sorry. If I didn’t accompany that with anything, you might have been knocked out by the pain.”

“It hurt enough anyway,” Hayden grumbled, but he looked out the side window and sighed. “Thank you for trying to take care of me.”

“I’m sorry it had to be this way. Believe me, I wish I could have left you somewhere you’d be safe, but there’s not really anywhere safe anymore.” He glanced over at the younger boy and sighed. “It’s my fault you’re stuck up in this.”

Rolling his eyes, Hayden tried to ignore the statement. “You keep saying that, and I _still_  don’t know what you mean.”

The man kept his eyes on the road. “All right, maybe I can explain a little better now. You know how to work that computer in your head now, right?”

“A little.”

“Okay, I’m going to teach you something. Direct thought transfer. When you see a prompt to accept it, then just choose to.”

It was easier to choose prompts than Hayden had imagined. By simply thinking the options, he could choose to affirm each one or reject it. At first it had been confusing, and he found himself lost in screens of confusing information, but by the time he had reached the car lot, things had started to make more sense.

_Incoming transfer detected_ , the computerized voice read softly. _Accept?_

Hayden found himself nodding along with his decision, and suddenly the vision in his left eye faded to black and started to flood with rows of data and facts. He couldn’t even keep up with the stream of text to read it, and the screen filled and emptied itself several times before the voice in his head announced, _Transfer complete. Installing now._

~~~

_Black._

_Then the image of an apartment. Somehow Hayden knew it was his own, even though he had never seen it before. Inside were machines, which he instinctively knew were involved with time travel._ Impressive. _  
_

_A letter. A notice of… discontinuation of use. A product recall? No, he was getting fired. Hayden felt fury rage in his chest even though the memories were not his own._

_One of the machines on the wall. Hayden knew that if he could use it, maybe he could travel through time and escape the people who were coming to neutralize him._

Wait. Neutralize. That means kill. _Hayden understood immediately why he had to use the machine. The sound of footsteps at the door of the tiny apartment made him turn and stare. He knew he had to go. The already packed duffel bag on the floor in his hand, Hayden was almost ready to press one button on the device, but first he hesitated and grabbed a box-_ It’s that box from the futon! _\- and felt himself lost in a swirl of dizzyingly intense color until he saw-_

_Black._

~~~

When his vision returned, Hayden blinked a few times. He saw that he was clutching the armrest with a white-knuckled hand, and he slowly released it, muscles in his body shaking.

“How- how did you do that?”

“It’s a thought transfer. The memories you saw are mine, but you lived them through your eyes.” The man shrugged, eyes still on the road. “Complicated, I know. I’ll teach you how to do it later.”

Hayden nodded, then brought his eyes back to the road. “So… you’re a time traveler, then.”

“Yep.”

“And there are people after you.”

“Yep.”

“So… Why are they after me?”

The man looked at him out of the corner of his eye, then sighed. “I used to work for a time travel agency called Guardians Enterprise.”

“That’s where this… Computer thing in my head came from.”

The man nodded. “Guardians Enterprise is more or less a freelance company that works to keep time from getting confused.” He realized how bizarre his sentence sounded and backtracked quickly. “Actually, no. I should explain something else first. Have you ever heard of the multiverse theory?”

Hayden raised an eyebrow. “I’m guessing it has to do with multiple universes.”

The man nodded. “Basically. Time is sort of like that. There are multiple timelines running at the same time parallel to each other, and there is a set course of events for each one… Are you following this?”

“More or less.”

“Hopefully more. Anyway, when someone strays from the course of events in a specific timeline, they cause the timelines to change course, and if a timeline changes course, it interferes with all the others around it.” He seemed to be reciting from a script at this point, and Hayden found himself struggling to keep up. “Guardians Enterprise was set up with the invention of time travel to protect the individual integrity of each timeline. If someone makes a choice that alters a timeline, their job is to go back and fix the course of events so that they will return to normal.”

“This is like a sci-fi movie,” Hayden wondered aloud.

“It really is.” The man smirked, then fell silent.

“But that still doesn’t explain why I’m involved with this. Why is your company after me?”

“They’re not my company,” the man corrected. “They’re also not after you, per se. What they want to do is neutralize my existence. I… made a decision without consulting the bureau first, and they don’t like how I work.”

He paused. Hayden was about to speak up when he started again. “They’re coming after you because if they remove you from the timeline, not only will I disappear, but the choice I made will be reversed.”

A slight tremor in his voice, Hayden spoke up again. “But how does… getting rid of me… how does that affect you? Am I your dad or something? Because that would be just like right out of a-”

“We’re more than relatives.” The man sighed. “It would have been better if you didn’t have to know this part, but… We’re actually the same person.”

 


	2. Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having just learned exactly who the man is who has been herding him away from what once was his home, Hayden has to come to terms with his past- and his future- all while still trying to understand why everything happened in the first place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll preface this lightly. Pardon the lack of Jack in the first chapter. I promise he shows up here more than once.

Hayden was still in shock by the time they pulled off to the side of the road.

“How on earth did you ever learn time travel,” he had groaned into his hands after spending quite some time trying to wrap his mind around the fact that the man driving the car was actually just himself grown up. “Aren’t there rules against meeting yourself or something? There have to be guidelines or something-”

“Are you saying you’d rather be dead?” his older self had shot back.

Hayden had swallowed. “No.”

“Neither would I.” He had frowned off into the distant horizon. “The sun’s going down. We should find somewhere to stay soon.”

He had explained that any obstruction in a perfect timeline was called a hiccup, and since he was currently the biggest problem the enterprise faced, that’s what he was called. Hiccup. It was funny to Hayden, but he knew he shouldn’t laugh, because unlike most nicknames, this one had more behind it than just a joke.

The pair folded the seats in the back of the SUV flat ino the floor- Hiccup had made sure whichever car they stole would have enough room to sleep in- and ended up laying across the fuzzy carpet-like floor. Hayden decided it wasn’t nearly as comfortable as the futon in Hiccup’s hideout, but he knew there wasn’t much else he could ask for.

“Hayden,” the man had said a couple minutes after they had settled into their beds. “Are you still awake?”

“Yeah.” He nodded, but realized that it did no good in the dark. “Why?”

“That memory transfer I did on you earlier today. Don’t accept one of those from anyone else, okay? Especially if you don’t know the person who’s sending it to you.”

Hayden scoffed. “How likely am I to run into anybody who has that kind of technology? This isn’t the same as your wild future. Whatever technology this is doesn’t exist yet.”

Hiccup silently stared at the inside wall of the SUV. “You never know.”

~~~

The next day, after several hours of driving, the needle on the gas tank dropped almost to empty, and Hiccup swore, realizing he had to find a gas station. Hayden glanced over at him, then back out the car window. He had watched the pines disappear to be replaced with only broadleaf trees, then from those into cornfields, and he already missed the sharp peaks of red pines from back at his home. Then, when he realized that home wasn’t somewhere he could go back to, he retreated from even talking and looked with tear-brimmed eyes out of the window.

Hiccup glanced over at him, feeling sorry for the boy. Even if they were the same person, that didn’t mean their earlier lives had been the same. He had never experienced the pain of losing his whole family- he had just disappeared, but still sent letters back to parents he knew existed. Since he hadn’t been living at home for quite some time, the idea that his and Hayden’s parents were dead didn’t bother him quite so much. Not to say it didn’t sting a little. He felt the pain, just not as strongly as his younger self.

“I can’t go into the gas station. My face is more known than yours among the agency, so I shouldn’t risk exposing us. Can I send you in to pay?” Hiccup asked when he pulled up to the gas meter. “It doesn’t look like I can pay outside.”

Hayden nodded. “Sure.”

The boy’s silence gave Hiccup pause. “I wish I could do more for you right now.”

“It’s fine.”

Hiccup nodded. “I can fill the gas tank since the car blocks people in the station from seeing me.”

Hayden glanced around the parking lot. “There are only two cars here. I’m pretty sure you’re safe.” He opened the passenger side door. “Can I use the bathroom?”

The older of the two nodded. “I can just broadcast a message that I’m done with the gas to you.” He reached into a jacket pocket, gently biting his lower lip as he rummaged through it, then pulled out a wallet. “Here. I don’t think the agency has canceled the backup cards we have, so you should be able to pay with this.”

Hayden accepted the credit card that Hiccup held out to him. “Are you sure that’s okay? I’m pretty sure I’ve seen movies where the government tracks people based on where their credit cards get used-”

“No, that I’m confident about. The agency made them untrackable by any means, which means they can’t be found for billing-” he started to smirk- “but that also means they couldn’t track them, either. It wasn’t a big enough issue for them to ask for them back, because it’s not like anybody was losing money, so I kept mine as a souvenir.” He opened his door. “It’s pretty useful if I can actually get into a store without raising suspicion.”

Hayden’s eyes flashed with excitement. “So that means we could actually get _real_  food here.”

“Sure, buy a few snacks. Maybe our tastes are still similar.”

Even though it was something small, it was enough to cheer Hayden up a little. he opened the door of the station and looked over to the counter where a boy with brown hair stood restocking cigarettes. He nodded a greeting and made his way to the back restroom.

Finished relieving himself, he flushed the urinal and moved over to the sink and started to wash his hands, but saw something in the reflection that surprised him. Leaning closer to make sure it wasn’t just a trick of the light, he raised his eyebrows in wonder when he saw that his left eye was no longer green but a bright shade of blue. “Cool.”

He dried his hands and opened the door to the bathroom, then started to mill around the station, grabbing cans of chips and other snacks and depositing them into a shopping basket he had picked up near the counter. The basket filled quickly with drinks and various foods. He looked over at the counter, where the boy boredly typed on his cell phone.

 _Gas tank is full,_  flashed a message in the left of his field of vision. He marveled at the fact that it seemed to float just a few inches in front of his face.

 _I’ll be right out,_  he sent back. He’s grown very quickly adapted to the technology in his body, and he lifted a hand to the back of his neck where the needle had punctured his skin. Not even a trace of a mark remained.

When he reached the counter, the teen behind it was glancing out the window at their SUV. “That’s a pretty great car,” he remarked, smiling at his customer. His nametag read _Jackson_  in friendly blue letters. “Is it new?”

Hayden started to tell him they had just picked it up the day before, but stopped himself. “Pretty new, yeah.”

Items beeped as he rung them up under the red-glowing scanner. “That’s the kind of car I want someday. I want to travel somewhere far away from... This place.”

“There isn’t much of a town here,” Hayden remarked. “I’d probably want to get away, too.”

The boy’s friendly deep brown eyes moved from the computer screen to Hayden’s face and he set his elbows on the counter. “Computer’s moving a little slowly, sorry about that.”

Hayden nodded. “No problem.” He glanced out the window of the building at the navy blue SUV where he could faintly see Hiccup’s silhouette waiting. He looked back toward the clerk.

“Hey, you’ve got really pretty eyes.”

“Um… Thanks?” Shuffling his feet on the mat in front of the counter, Hayden looked down at the counter. “It’s… a genetic thing. My dad has them too.”

“Well, it’s really cool anyway. Better than boring old brown.”

“Brown eyes aren’t bad. Yours are... nice. Like chocolate.” Hiccup mentally kicked himself immediately after saying something so ridiculously embarrassing.

Jackon smiled. “Thanks.” The computer beeped lightly. “Hey, looks like it’s back up again.”

Hayden sighed in relief. “Cool.”

As the clerk scanned the last few items, he dropped them into plastic bags and handed them across the counter. “I swear, some days the computers here move at a snail’s pace.” He smiled as he set the third bag of food on the counter in front of Hayden, then rattled off a total. Hayden handed the card over and the boy’s eyebrows raised. “This yours?”

“No, it’s my… Dad’s.” Hayden smiled, hoping his pause hadn’t been noticeable.

“Wow, lucky you, on a family trip.” The teen swiped the card and handed it back as soon as a receipt had finished printing. “Have fun. Tell your dad to drive carefully.”

“I will. Thanks.” Hayden accepted the card and receipt, then walked out the door and slipped through the passenger’s side door.

“Looks like my unhealthy tastes haven’t changed much through the years, except for the vegetarian thing,” Hiccup remarked as he looked through the grocery bags. “Glad you got some potatoes to satisfy that," he joked, holding up the canister of chips.

Hayden made a face and set the other two bags down on the floor behind them. “I have a question.”

“Sure”, Hiccup said, sliding a key into the ignition of the car. “What is it?”

“If we have an unlimited source of money, why didn’t we just buy the car?”

“That would be a bad idea.” Hiccup shook his head. “Even if the whole transaction would go through, it wouldn’t be smart to make a purchase that big on a credit card. People would get suspicious.” He gave a half-smile. “It might be worth it just to have the car keys, though- hey.” He reached his hand to the ignition as they pulled out of the station parking lot. “Where did you get this key?”

“What key?” Hayden asked puzzledly. “We didn’t get any keys when we took the car.”

“Yeah, but I just started it with the ones you had in the grocery bag-” He swore loudly and slammed his body back against the seat, then mumbled something about a plant.

“Somebody planted them on us?” The younger of the two furrowed his brow. “Why?”

“I don’t know, but it’s probably not good.” He sighed angrily. “Did you see anyone suspicious in the gas station?”

Hayden shook his head. “There was only one person-”

“What was his name?”

“His nametag said Jackson.”

Hiccup gripped the steering wheel and continued to drive forward on the road, eyes glued to the yellow lines in the middle. “What did he look like?”

“Um… Brown hair… brown eyes…”

“Ahhh, damn it.” Hiccup’s shoulders drooped.

“Why? Do you know him?” Hayden shot him a confused look. The teenager looked far closer to his own age than his companion’s. “Is he dangerous or something?”

“Maybe. Probably not yet. But somehow he got the keys to this car, and whoever gave them to him knows who we are.” He pulled off onto the side of the road and sum into a U-turn, quickly backtracking to the gas station. “We have to find out where he got those keys.”

~~~

When they pulled into the parking lot, only one car- probably Jackson’s- sat in the parking lot. Hiccup didn’t bother to hide when he stepped out of his car door and stormed into the building. Hayden sat behind and just looked in at the events inside, somewhat afraid of what might happen. The car was still running, so he couldn’t hear much over the hum of the engine, but it looked like Jackson was coming out from behind the counter. Hiccup led him out of the gas station after they shut down the lights, and Jackson locked up behind him, then opened the side door. “Hey, I thought that was your dad,” he said to Hayden while he lifted up a seat in the back. “You weren’t lying when you said you had the same eyes.”

“Why would I lie?” Hayden responded, looking questioningly at Hiccup as he opened his car door. “Is he coming with us?”

“We can’t leave him here,” he responded quickly. The car shook when Jackson closed the door behind himself, and Hiccup was quick to speed out of the parking lot once more.

Hayden looked forward on the road for a couple miles, trying to ignore the tense atmosphere surrounding Hiccup, but he had too many questions to ask, so it wasn’t long before he opened his mouth. “So... why is he coming with us?”

“Frost found us. He’s probably the one who discovered our location earlier, when I got the alert that someone was closeby.” Hiccup was quick to respond, but his statement still left Hayden in the dark about their situation, and when the older realized this, he added, “Frost is another hiccup. Not Hiccup as in another one of us, but just a person that the Guardians don’t think should exist.” He took a left turn at an intersection to bring them back to the interstate. “He told this kid here to pass on the key to us.”

“Well, he didn’t actually say you specifically,” Jackson interjected. “He just said to give them to the next people who bought something at the gas station, and that just happened to be you.”

“Which makes it all the worse, because that means he knew we would be the next people to be there.”

“You left right before he did, so that wouldn’t have been hard to guess.”

“ _What?_ ” Hiccup spun around in his seat, jerking the steering wheel, Hayden caught it before the car dipped off the road and tried to drive from the passenger seat as his almost-twin distractedly talked at the teen in the backseat. “He left _after_  us?”

“His car was still in the parking lot when you pulled out,” Jackson said with a shrug, and Hiccup realized he should be driving, so he turned back around, still keeping his eyes in the mirror. “I didn’t see him leave, but he was definitely there.” He looked back over his shoulder. “Hey, that reminds me, can we go back and get my car before we go too far?”

“Does someone in your family have spare keys?” Hayden asked, knowing that Hiccup would refuse to go back. No response came from Jackson’s seat, and Hayden glanced toward Jackson, who had suddenly gotten a lot sadder-looking. Hayden reached back and set a hand on his knee. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, you couldn’t have known.”

Hiccup’s grip relaxed on the steering wheel. “Looks like you’re not alone, little brother.”

Jackson gave them a questioning look, and Hayden shook his head. “We’re not actually brothers. He’s not my dad either, but it’s a long story.” He frowned. “My family all got killed by a company that Hiccup here-” he acknowledged him with a tip of the head- “and Frost were a part of. It was… Really recently…” He furrowed his brow, realizing he’d lost track of the time between his kidnapping and whatever day it was.

“Wow. That sucks.” Jackson bit his lip. “Mine disappeared about a year ago. The house got demolished, so I’ve been living out of my car since then.”

Hayden caught Hiccup mouthing “two years” with a look of stern concentration on his face and decided to ask later what was going through his head. “Well, right now we’re living out of this too. We’ve got something in common.” He smiled, and Jackson smiled back at him sadly.

Moving back to the front seat, he glanced over at Hiccup, hoping for some kind of input on the conversation, but he got nothing except a side view of the intense face. He glanced back over his shoulder. “We might be driving for a while, so you may as well get comfortable.”

~~~

It was early morning two days later when Hiccup spotted a sign in the distance. It read “Welcome to Michigan,” and he sighed with relief. “Hey, Hayden.”

He elbowed the younger boy, who woke from a light slumber with a confused “Wha?”

“I need you to drive.”

Hayden’s eyes grew wide again. “Are you sure?” he squinted out in front of them. “Doesn’t that sign say Michigan?” he looked over at the man who he had grown so accustomed to seeing. “How long have we been going north?”

“Doesn’t matter. Get directions to this address so I can help Jack out with something.” He pulled over to the side of the road and stepped around to the back seat, letting Hayden slide into the drivers’ seat, still slightly dazed from his heavy sleep. When Hayden saw the black box Hiccup was pulling out of his duffel, he grimaced. “Does he know what’s going on?”

“No.”

“Are you going to tell him?”

“Afterward.” He opened the box, and Hayden saw the contents more clearly. Inside were eight glass vials- four designed to hold the visual portion of the computer (one of which was empty) and four with a more tubular shape, each with a string of translucent cable floating in a viscous blue liquid. He averted his eyes as his older self pulled out a terrifyingly long needle and set it in the lid of the box.

“So that’s what it looks like.”

Hiccup glanced up at him. “Yeah. Now you probably know why I didn’t want to show you before I did anything.” He elbowed Jackson, hiding the box behind him with only the contact on his finger. “Hey. Wake up. I’ve got something for you.”

Hayden tried his hardest to shut out the sounds coming from behind his seat as he drove forward. Jackson’s pain eventually subsided, and he heard the same confused mumbling sounds he had made when the computer had installed itself into his system. “What- What did you do?”

Taking a wide turn along the road, Hayden listened to the explanation- a little lengthier for Jackson than it had been for him- and looked up at the sky. The blue lights in his vision that he had learned to ignore when he needed to by this point jumped to life, showing him the chance of precipitation and how long until it fell. “We might have a storm coming,” he said over his shoulder, interrupting the talk going on in the backseat.

“We’ve got more coming than just thunder,” Hiccup replied, then went back to explaining the system to Jackson- only with slightly more urgency now.

~~~

When they arrived at the address, Hayden’s internal computer announced it pleasantly. “We’re here.”

Jackson was busy excitedly looking at everything in the backseat through new eyes, scanning barcodes, calculating distance, and altogether enjoying experimenting with his newfound vision when Hayden parked the car, and he glanced up from the empty canister of chips that they had eaten the previous day. “What’s here?”

Hiccup looked up from the passenger seat. “This is the last house Frost lived in before he was accepted into Guardians Enterprises.

“Then… why are we here? You said he’s dangerous.” Hayden climbed out of the front seat of the car and pulled the brown vest as tight as it could get to block the wind and rain from his thin, freckled arms.

“Well, I’ve always been told he was. But that was by the bureau in charge of Guardians, and they never explained what he did. Anyway, we have a common enemy, so we may as well come to an understanding.” Hayden could tell there was something else he wasn't saying, but didn't ask because he knew Hiccup wouldn't tell him if he was set against it.

“How do you plan to do that?” Jackson asked, still taking readings on everything around him like an overjoyed puppy. “There’s no guarantee he’ll be here-”

“We made arrangements.”

Hayden and the boy from the gas station both stopped in their tracks. “ _What?_ ”

Hiccup sighed and turned around. “Look, I know it’s a risk. It’s something I have to chance. Anyway, we have him-” he pointed to Jackson- “with us, so he’s not going to want to risk doing anything too rash.”

“And why would I even think of doing something like that?” Hiccup spun around and saw a man around his age leaning against the wooden doorframe. “Come inside, or you’re going to freeze.” He smirked. “Trust me. I’d know how that feels.”

~~~

Walking into the house, Hiccup watched the back of the man in front of him carefully. A black jacket that was just a little too big hung on his shoulders, and his snow white hair stood out in stark contrast. He led the three visitors into the living room of his house and sat down on a chair in the corner. “So. It looks like we’re all stuck somewhere.”

Jackson raised his hand in the air. “Actually, I’m just here because you gave me a car key at the gas station-”

“No, you’re not.” The white-haired man shook his head. “You’re here because this little rulebreaker right here decided it was safer to have you along than to leave you be.” He smiled as he pointed to Hiccup. “Has he bothered to explain why he brought you with? I can promise you, it’s not just because I gave you a key.” Jackson shook his head, and the man’s smile widened. “Oh, I can’t wait to hear this.”

Hayden looked between the three of them, then lowered himself onto the couch, looking down sympathetically toward the teenager who had appeared so suddenly in his life. Jackson smiled, but his face returned to confusion when he looked back up to the man who had carried him from the station to the house in the middle of nowhere. “What pieces am I missing?”

“You’re-” Hiccup started to speak, then faltered. “I- you’re here because I know who you are.”

“Oh, you can do better than that,” the man said through pursed lips. “Want to try again?”

Hiccup glared at him angrily. “Well, it’s not like it’s something you just say to someone every day.”

The grey-haired man rolled his piercing blue eyes. “Fine. If you’re not going to explain it, I’ll just do it the fast way.” After a second of silence, Hayden saw a prompt light up in his field of vision. He could tell by the look of surprise from everyone else that they had received it as well.

 _Incoming transfer detected,_  came the computerized voice. _Accept?_

The options weren't listed, though. The only box Hayden could select was “ _Yes_ ,” and when he was about to confirm the choice, he thought back to what Hiccup had told him in the car about never accepting a memory transfer from anyone else. Noticing the younger boy's hesitation from across the room, Hiccup nodded, and Hayden could tell that _his_  installation had completed. The one blue eye of his older self had started to glow, and he gripped the arms of his chair with a pained expression on his face.

Hayden looked over to Jackson, who hadn’t received any warning from Hiccup and had probably immediately accepted the memory transfer. His jaw hung slack, and his own blue-tinted eye was pulsing with light. Just as the lights in his field of vision identified the transfer complete, he saw out of the corner of his eye the stare the man with white hair was directing at Hiccup.

_Installing now._

~~~

_Black._

_Then, a face. Two braids hanging behind a familiar ear, Hiccup’s body- only a little younger- came into focus._ This is that guy’s memory. They knew each other? _His vision was directed to their surroundings. The white-haired man- no, his hair was brown at this point; it hung in his eyes just a little- was in a bed with him…_

They were lovers? _  
_

_Hayden felt his face flare up and he realized it was actually the man’s emotions were feeling. And there were many happening all at once._

_Black._

_When his vision faded and switched to another scene, Hayden realized that Hiccup’s eyes had both been green. In this new image, one was blue._

_He felt anger surge through his veins, and he realized the two were standing in a room in front of a row of people who he somehow knew were extremely important. He also knew that they didn’t like him, and that there was something bad that was going to happen to him because of it. Hiccup looked at him sadly while someone secured his hands behind his back._

_Black._

_Cold. He was frozen. Well, mostly. Someone stood over him, rushing to thaw him out. Grateful to the man standing over him, he felt ice melting from around his face- and his hair was white now. Blue lights danced in both eyes, and something tugged at the back of his mind. His mind- it was split. That’s it. There were two of him inside one body. But one of them wasn’t what he wanted to be._

_As his vision cleared, he saw the man was Hiccup. He looked aged- a little older than before. Tired. Instantly, Hayden was aware that the man had been frozen for a long time. And he knew that he was going to escape._

_Black._

_Now that he was free, he felt himself tugged two directions during every decision, and he knew there was something dark trying to drag him under. He’d been experimented on while he was frozen, and he couldn’t live normally because of it._

_But there was always the option of staying put and waiting for someone who could help fix him- to get that infernal second voice inside his head to STOP-_

_Black._

~

Jackson was the first one to return to reality. The man whose memories he had just witnessed was sitting across the room, and he scratched his head in awe of what he'd just seen. "What was that?" he asked, eyes wide with wonder.

"It's a memory transfer. Everything you just saw was a memory I have." Frost paused. "But I took advantage of it and gave you a little more than I did my friend here."

"Wait- what do you mean?" He looked in turn from Hayden, who was still gripping the arm of the couch with his jaw clenched tight, to Hiccup, who was also still affected by Frost's transfer but seemed to keep his composure slightly better. "I still don't know how this... This thing in my head works completely."

"It's a computer, connected to your brain and your nervous system. It's powered by excess neurological impulses." Seeing that Jackson wasn't really catching what he was saying, he added, "It runs off your body's energy. Basically undetectable, except for the eye thing." Pausing he lowered his gaze. "The only problem with it is that once it's installed, it can't be shut down, or it'll take a lot with it, since it's so connected to all your vitals."

When Jackson's eyes widened in alarm, Frost shook his head. "Don't worry about that part. Aside from the memories you saw, do you remember feeling anything?"

He glanced back to Hayden. "I'm supposed to stay close to him."

"Good. He received the same thing in regards to you." Frost relaxed slightly. "Some things don't change regardless of timeline. You two are going to get very close."

"Wait, how do you know-"

The white haired man shook his head and raised a finger to his lips, pointing to Hiccup as the man started to come back to reality once more.

As soon as he could speak normally, Hiccup grimaced. "I don't know why you had to give me those memories. I was in all of them anyway."

"Just to remind you," Frost replied almost playfully. "I figured it would help you a little."

~~~

Hayden gasped when he came back to reality. Bending over on the couch, he was immediately aware of every inch of his body, and that he had full control over himself again- or at least, that he would once he stopped choking.

The sounds of people talking around him started to become more clear, and he felt slightly irritated that they had started talking without him aware of the conversation.

“But, Jack,” he heard Jackson saying with confusion in his voice, “If you’re me, then who else are you? What other person do you have in your head?”

The man- Jack Frost, apparently- responded by saying simply “I’m a computer in overdrive.”

“What, is that how you got us to receive the files without letting us choose otherwise?” Hiccup asked, leaning forward on his chair.

“Being experimented on has its benefits. The programs aren’t constrained by the ordinary rules of how these systems work- but I am.” He flinched. “Two computers in my body almost constantly fight for full control, and their clash seems to create an alternate personality that sometimes shows through.” He closed his eyes with a pained expression. “That’s why they wanted to keep me frozen- I could be dangerous to my family if I ever tried to go back.”

“Your family?” Hayden interjected, glad to finally get at least a couple words in.

Frost nodded. “I’m glad to say my family is safe. I’m sorry about yours, Hayden. The Guardians are a ruthless organization when they're on a mission.” He glanced at Hiccup and smiled. “I’m glad you made it out alive, but you wouldn’t have had to run if you hadn’t let me out.” He grabbed the hand that was sitting on the arm of his long-time friend’s chair, which made the brown-haired man smile in return.

“I couldn’t let you sit in that tube forever and you know it.”

Jackson bit his lip anxiously, ignoring their show of affection. “But if people are after both of you, and they’re trying to go back and remove us so that you don’t become a risk-”

“I think it’s too late at this point to change our futures by neutralizing you two,” Frost interrupted. "We’ve crossed into a completely new timeline, and if they end up killing you, we’ll still live, most likely.”

Hayden’s face flared. “Is that your plan, then? You just wanted to ensure your own safety, so you dragged us into it so we could be baited and killed?” He gestured angrily out the window. “We’re all in one place. How do we know people won’t storm the house now?”

“We don’t know _anything,_  Hayden,” Hiccup shot back tersely. “But that’s better than knowing for sure than every one of us is going to die.”

The room fell silent.

“Actually,” Frost began, “If Hayden- I’m sorry, Hiccup- and I neutralize ourselves, we might be able to remove the threat against you two, since people won’t search for us. We’re the only ones who have systems registered with the Guardians, as long as Hiccup used the prototypes distributed to him from before they were trackable-” Hiccup affirmed this with a nod- “so you two would be free to try to escape on your own.”

Hayden looked in shock to his older self, who looked resolved to follow through with Frost's plan. “But, Hiccup, do you-”

“I’d do it, Hayden. I risked your life already, and if I can take one more risk to save it, then I will.”

Hayden swallowed, and he tried to hold back his frustration.

Jackson, was staring pleadingly at his older self. “Can you at least tell me where our family is?”

“I relocated them after Hiccup helped me escape so the agency couldn’t find them. Take this address first.” He paused, one eye flashing, and Jackson’s blue eye glimmered in response. “It’s a long drive, I’m afraid- all the way to California. I’m sorry I didn’t move you as well. I didn’t have time to find you then. That’s why I looked for you now.”

Hayden thought Jackson’s eye still shone with the light from the message sent to him, but he realised that the teenager was crying. “Thank you.”

“You two might want to leave soon.” Hiccup frowned. “When the systems installed in our bodies deactivate, they send out a pretty clear signal, and with three systems all going out at once-” he glanced at Frost, his voice fading to a whisper- “We’re bound to be found quickly.”

Jackson stood to leave, but Hayden wasn’t ready yet. He ran up to the man who saved his life and wrapped his arms around his waist. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without you to rescue me next time.”

Hiccup snorted. “Hopefully there won’t be a next time. Now, you guys need to get away as soon as you can.” He glanced over at the white-haired man who he had known so well and the corners of his mouth lifted in a smile. “Anything you think we should tell them?”

Jack Frost raised an eyebrow and looked to Hayden and his younger self. “You two need to stick together. You’re connected in more than one way.” He looked between the two, adopting a stern expression. “And, for the love of all that is holy, do not get involved with time travel ever again. It really takes a lot out of you. And you might get frozen for a whole year just to be thawed and chased for another.”

“Why are you always like that?” Hiccup grimaced. “Making jokes to the last second.” He looked away from his friend. “You better move. Take the car and follow those directions he gave you.”

“We’ll find them,” Hayden promised, grabbing Jackson’s hand. “Thank you.”

As they left the building, Jackson and Hayden felt their hearts drop at the thought that they had to make their way all the way across the states on their own, but when they each squeezed the other’s hand in turn, they knew it would be better than braving it alone.

~~~

“You know, if you hadn’t tried rescuing me, neither of us would be in this mess,” Jack Frost complained. “I’d still be sleeping soundly and you’d be out saving the world.”

“Yeah, but it’s not worth much if you're not around for me to come back to.” Hiccup replied, giving his long-time lover's hand a squeeze as they sat next to each other in the living room. In both their fields of vision floated the fatal prompt to terminate their programs along with a warning that their systems could never reboot. “Are you ready?”

“I’m here.”

" _Terminating program in ten seconds. Nine. Eight…”_

When the countdown faded, their vision faded to black, and the glow faded from their eyes with every weakening heartbeat.

  
  
  
  
  
  


 

 

 

 

It was a week later when Jackson and Hayden finally stepped up to the front door of a white house with red trim.

“Are you ready?”

“It’s been a year since I’ve seen any of them,” Jackson said nervously. “I don’t know what they’re going to do when they see I’ve brought a boy home.” He glanced down at Hayden. “Especially since we’re going off of what a frozen guy who says he’s me and an illegal time traveler who claims he’s you-”

“Hey. You were an illegal time traveler, too.”

He smirked. “True enough.”

“Plus, we don’t need to tell them that part. Frost put in the message that they’d have forgotten him, right?” Hayden slipped his hand into Jackson’s. “Just tell them we’re connected in more ways than they’d imagine.”

“I have a sister with a dirty mind,” Jackson whispered as he knocked on the red door, and his companion flinched.

“Maybe skip that part then.” He leaned his head against the other's shoulder. “Just say you’re my new family.”

Jackson smiled. “I think they’ll like that.” When he saw the door handle turning, he squeezed Hayden’s hand gently. “We’re home.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And cue the celebratory music.
> 
> Sappy endings? Yeah. They deserve it.
> 
> Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you decide it was worth your while.

**Author's Note:**

> Dun-Dun-Dunn.
> 
> Looks like you made it through. Bless you.  
> Don't worry, part two is just around the corner.


End file.
